Monday, May 21, 2012 4:47:23 AM
John Boehner’s debt sword — at the ready
[budget-battle-related Toles gallery at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tom-toles-on-the-budget-battle/2011/03/15/AB6u9ZX_gallery.html ]
By Dana Milbank, Published: May 18, 2012
John Boehner thinks it’s kind of funny. “It struck me as somewhat comical,” he told reporters Thursday morning, “that, you know, people are looking to me like I’m the guy carrying a sword around town, I’m going to bludgeon someone.”
Well, Mr. Speaker, maybe that’s because your rapier keeps setting off the metal detectors.
The bludgeon Boehner wields is his threat to revive the default standoff [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/boehner-threatens-another-debt-ceiling-fight/2012/05/15/gIQAJuCESU_story.html ] of last summer, a showdown that shattered consumer confidence and helped stall the economic recovery.
In a speech Tuesday [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/boehners-full-speech-on-the-debt-ceiling-read-it-here/2012/05/16/gIQAjw2aTU_blog.html ], Boehner said that “allowing America to default,” while not such a hot idea, would be better than raising the debt ceiling without “dramatic steps to reduce spending.” Added Boehner: “We shouldn’t dread the debt limit. We should welcome it. It’s an action-forcing event in a town that has become infamous for inaction.”
By his own account, Boehner was reprising a speech — and a line in the sand — that he delivered before the last, disastrous standoff. As I watched him defend his position in the House TV studio Thursday morning, I had an uncomfortable thought: Does Boehner want the economy to tank?
My instinct says that he does not, that his concern for Americans’ suffering trumps his party’s interests. And yet there’s no denying that more economic trouble would boost Republicans’ political interest. If Boehner goes to the brink and secures new spending cuts, he wins. If he fails, and his brinkmanship sets off a crisis, he still wins, because the resulting drop in confidence will slow the economy and injure the incumbent president.
This possibility is more than theoretical. During the last default showdown, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell precipitously to the lowest level in more than two years. Analysts cited the debt-ceiling standoff as a factor.
Of course, it’s a time-honored tradition to disparage the economy when you’re in the opposition. I covered a hearing in early 2008, before the financial collapse, when Democrats spoke of “hemorrhaging” and “crisis” and then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson complained bitterly that they were trying to talk down the economy. But Boehner goes beyond talking down and approaches the realm of precipitating a crisis.
On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi complained [ http://www.democraticleader.gov/news/press?id=2621 ] that the other side is willing to “risk the full faith and credit of the United States. .?.?. It already can be damaging, just the fact that it’s brought up. I think we should snuff it out immediately.”
House Republicans have strategic reasons for precipitating a fight over the debt. In its absence, they have been debating issues on the Democrats’ turf, such as the Violence Against Women Act (Republicans passed a face-saving alternative to the Democrats’ version) and renewing the Export-Import Bank (93 House Republicans broke with their leaders).
On Thursday, conservatives on Capitol Hill were grumbling over a report by Politico [ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76422.html ] that, if the Supreme Court invalidates the Obamacare health reforms, Republican leaders would attempt to reinstate some of the more popular pieces of the legislation [and if the Supreme Court upholds the reforms, to gut the parts they don't like].
Returning the discussion to a debt-limit showdown reunites Republicans. But at what cost? I asked Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, whether the speaker worried that the showdown talk would rattle markets and consumers. “If you go back and read the S&P report” when the U.S. debt was downgraded, he said, “it was the failure to come to a more comprehensive agreement to deal with the deficit and debt that caused the downgrade, not the debate over raising the debt limit.”
True, Standard & Poor’s said that last summer’s budget deal “falls short” of what would stabilize the debt. But the rating agency also noted that the downgrade reflected “our view that the effectiveness, stability and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened.”
Nobody doubts the need to address the debt, but Boehner’s moves won’t dispel worries about stability and predictability. He began his weekly news conference with dire warnings (“disastrous default .?.?. wet blanket over our economy”). Despite more ominous words, he took issue with the notion that his earlier speech on the debt limit was about “brinkmanship.”
So what was it about? Politico’s Jake Sherman, reminding Boehner of his previous statement that it would be “hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again” on a debt deal, asked what had changed. “I live for hope,” Boehner said with a smile, allowing that he doesn’t “underestimate the difficulty.”
Fox News’ Chad Pergram asked Boehner whether he saw any “realistic” possibility of a vote on the debt limit before the election. “I’m not underestimating the difficulty,” Boehner repeated. “All I’m suggesting is that the conversations could start.”
And so can the panic.
danamilbank@washpost.com
© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/boehners-debt-sword--at-the-ready/2012/05/18/gIQAVTUhYU_story.html [with comments]
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Mr. Boehner’s lamentable desire to repeat bad history
By Editorial Board, Published: May 16
IT’S NOT OFTEN that a senior political figure announces an intention to behave irresponsibly and risk inflicting great harm on the U.S. economy. It’s even rarer that the politician, having already behaved irresponsibly and inflicted harm on the U.S. economy, announces his intention to do so again.
Yet that is the situation in which House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has placed himself. In a speech Tuesday to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s fiscal summit, he vowed to use the next debt-ceiling debate to extract additional spending cuts [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/boehner-watch-out-for-that-fiscal-cliff/2012/05/15/gIQAdtYZRU_blog.html ] as the price of lifting the country’s borrowing limit.
“Yes, allowing America to default would be irresponsible,” Mr. Boehner said. “But it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and reform the budget process.” Actually, no. It would be more irresponsible to risk — again — the United States’ credit rating.
We share Mr. Boehner’s deep concern about the rising federal debt. We have called for Congress and the president to put the country on a sustainable fiscal path before a crisis ensues. We sympathize with the speaker’s notion that the government won’t act unless forced to do so. “We shouldn’t dread the debt limit,” Mr. Boehner said Tuesday. “We should welcome it. It’s an action-forcing event in a town that has become infamous for inaction.”
There was a point, we confess, when we too hoped that debt-limit brinkmanship might encourage responsible behavior. Then came last summer’s debacle. The country moved closer to the edge of default than anyone had thought imaginable. The U.S. credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sandp-considering-first-downgrade-of-us-credit-rating/2011/08/05/gIQAqKeIxI_story.html ], and the resulting uncertainty and lack of confidence dragged down the economy.
And for what? For no real progress. Yes, the deal that ultimately emerged provided for nearly $1?trillion in cuts over 10 years. But the real hope, to the extent there was any, was in the creation of a congressional supercommittee that was empowered to come up with a broader solution and charged with producing another $1.2 trillion in cuts. The supercommittee super-failed. The debate now revolves around how to defuse the trigger of looming, draconian cuts that had been intended to assure the panel’s success. The action-forcing event did not force the necessary action.
So it is appalling that Mr. Boehner would be willing to repeat this dangerous episode, this time at potentially even greater risk. The Treasury is on target to hit the debt limit by early next year. Mr. Boehner said he will insist on additional spending cuts at least as large as the increase in the ceiling. Speaking to the same gathering, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner warned [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/geithner-warns-boehner-gop-on-end-of-year-debt-limit-showdown/2012/05/15/gIQAIJmORU_blog.html ] that another round of brinkmanship would be irresponsible and expressed hope that Congress will act without “the drama and the pain and the damage they caused the country last July.”
Unfortunately, a second act in the debt ceiling tragedy looks likelier than Mr. Geithner’s vision of adult behavior.
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Read more on this issue:
The Post’s View: Time for the grown-ups to enter the debt showdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/time-for-the-grown-ups-to-enter-the-debt-showdown/2011/07/28/gIQAO2ftfI_story.html
The Post’s View: A legacy of generations’ hard work placed at risk
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/raise-the-debt-limit/2011/07/15/gIQA9LzzGI_story.html
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© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-boehners-lamentable-desire-to-repeat-bad-history/2012/05/16/gIQAc3deUU_story.html [with comments]
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WRAPUP 1-Obama, Republicans clash over US debt limit increase
May 16, 2012
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/usa-debt-boehner-idUSL1E8GGJBO20120517 [with comment]
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Is GOP trying to sabotage economy to hurt Obama?
[well DUH]
May 19, 2012
http://news.yahoo.com/gop-trying-sabotage-economy-hurt-obama-135650274--finance.html [ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i1iO0jTKpntqFNQX8MwPeYmEmY7w?docId=a2ad1b6200c244159870cb4389189b13 ]
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Republicans doubling down on debt limit showdown strategy
May 20, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-republicans-doubling-down-on-debt-limit-showdown-strategy-20120520,0,6287011.story
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Boehner describes House Republicans as '218 frogs in a wheelbarrow'
FoxNews.com
Published May 20, 2012
House Speaker John Boehner likened his restless Republican caucus to "frogs in a wheelbarrow," saying in an interview broadcast Sunday it's tough to keep them all in line on any given vote.
The speaker, on ABC's "This Week," discussed the challenge ahead in the second half of the year which will wrap up his first term as speaker -- though he's optimistic it won't be his last.
Boehner made waves earlier in the week when he called for the House to once again demand spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling, suggesting that fight might play out this year. But in that battle, Boehner could face resistance not only from Democrats but conservative Republicans who don't want to lift the debt ceiling no matter what is offered in exchange.
"I've never been shy about leading. But you know, leaders need followers," Boehner said, when asked about the trouble the speaker's had in general controlling his caucus. "We've got 89 brand new members. We've got a pretty disparate caucus. ... And it's hard to keep 218 frogs in a wheelbarrow long enough to get a bill passed."
But Boehner said his members want to do more, and "I want to do more too."
On the debt-ceiling question, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi countered that holding up that vote would not be the "responsible, mature, sensible" path.
"They're over the edge. We want a balanced approach," she said.
©2012 FOX News Network, LLC
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/20/boehner-describes-house-republicans-as-218-frogs-in-wheelbarrow/
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What Game Is John Boehner Playing?
Photograph by Luke Sharrett/The New York Times via Redux
By Brendan Greeley on May 18, 2012
“It’s an action-forcing event,” said John Boehner, “in a town that’s become famous for inaction.” He was speaking at a conference in Washington sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He was referring to his decision to stage a fight this winter over increasing the federal government’s debt limit, which he confirmed after hoagies with the president the next day. The thing is, it’s not at all clear why he’s doing this, or what he thinks he has to gain by signaling such a fight so far in advance. To put it in the classic Washington formulation: What does John Boehner want?
We don’t live in his head or his office, which both seem like stress-filled environments anyway, and Boehner has not been forthcoming with details. So we’ll have to make some assumptions. This is where a game theorist can help. As it happens, we have one right here: Steven Brams worked under former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in the 1960s and has written extensively on game theory, including most recently Game Theory and the Humanities. He says the first assumption is that every actor in a game is rational.
So let’s assume that: John Boehner is rational. What’s his game? Brams says that despite what the House speaker says, his game is not called “Balance the Budget.”
“If it were,” says Brams, “the question would be, how do we balance it, how great are the cuts?” Boehner isn’t talking about such details or outlining specific cuts. Game theorists think in terms of a matrix, a theoretical square that describes potential actions, in this case with President Obama on one axis and Speaker Boehner on the other. If the two had agreed to play a game that would erase federal budget deficits, says Brams, “the matrices would involve specifics of where the cuts would be made: ‘Cut this’ is one strategy, ‘cut that’ is another strategy.”
That’s out, then. But your intuition probably already told you that, and Boehner is still getting at something. So let’s start with what he can’t avoid, and work our way backward from there. By Jan. 1, 2013, Boehner—and everyone in Washington—has to have completed a game of chicken called “Extend the Bush Tax Cuts.” Boehner can’t not play this game. Or, rather, if he chooses not to play, he loses. In chicken, at least one side must swerve so that both may live. But the matrix in this game doesn’t look great for Boehner. In the worst-case scenario in the chicken matrix for “Extend the Bush Tax Cuts,” no one swerves and the tax cuts expire. It’s not great for the economy, but it’s not an immediate meltdown, either, which makes the worst-case, no-swerve outcome not a very compelling threat to the president.
So we know, as John Boehner must, that the Jan. 1 game is not a great game for him to play. He can avoid it by picking a different game, and this is the one he has announced. It’s a chicken game called “Raise the Debt Limit.” Familiar ground for the House Republicans, and a compelling matrix. If no one swerves, the U.S. fails to meet its obligations to debt holders. A twisted mess of steel and gasoline for everyone, including the president.
But even this isn’t the game Boehner is playing, says Brams. Boehner “doesn’t have enough information to see whether it’s a good strategy or not,” he says. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spoke at the same conference, where he made clear that Treasury’s deadline for raising the debt limit may extend into the new year. And Obama may be a lame-duck president this winter. Or the Republicans may be chastened by losses in the House. “It’s just rhetoric at this stage,” says Brams.
There is a problem with bargaining games. Theorists refer to it, with their characteristic directness, as the “toughness dilemma”—or, as Brams puts it, “How far do you go to be tough but not look like you’re sabotaging everything?” The Tea Partiers, in the House and in the country, do not suffer from a toughness dilemma. They are certain that more of it is good. To look tough is good for bargaining, good for Boehner’s crankiest freshmen, and good to animate the Republican base in the middle of an election, when most of the attention is on the presidential candidates and precious little is being paid to, say, the Speaker of the House.
In other words, Boehner just played a game called “Remember Me?” He won.
Greeley is a staff writer for Bloomberg Businessweek.
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Related
How the Mythical Republican Moderate Disappeared
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-02/how-the-mythical-republican-moderate-disappeared
House Republicans Are Hilariously Leery of Mitt Romney
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-17/house-republicans-are-hilariously-leery-of-mitt-romney
Pigs Fly, Republicans Rally Around Romney
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-20/pigs-fly-republicans-rally-around-romney
Video
Bachmann on Republican Race: Political Capital
http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2012-02-03/bachmann-on-republican-race-political-capital
Video
Senator Richard Lugar on Republican U.S. Senate Primary
http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2012-05-03/lugar-mourdock-on-republican-u-dot-s-dot-senate-primary
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@2012 Bloomberg L.P
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-18/what-game-is-john-boehner-playing [with comments]
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McConnell: Obama needs to act like an adult
By Leigh Ann Caldwell
May 20, 2012 12:37 PM
(CBS News) The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, criticized President Obama for failing to lead on the debt, calling it the nation's "biggest problem," and indicating that nothing will get done about it until he takes initiative.
On "Face the Nation," McConnell said "this president needs to become the adult" when it comes to the long-term debt, adding that he and House Speaker John Boehner "have been the adults in the room arguing that we ought to do something about the nation's most serious long-term problem."
McConnell told host Bob Schieffer that the president has had three-and-a-half years to tackle the deficit, but "we could not get this president to do anything serious about entitlement reform, for example, the single biggest threat to future generations."
Earlier in the week, Speaker Boehner said he will demand additional spending cuts before Congress approves another increase to the debt ceiling, which came as a surprise to many. The previous fight over the debt ceiling nearly shut down the government before Congress and the president agreed to $1.2 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for the debt ceiling to be lifted.
McConnell said he agreed with Boehner's statement: "If the president is going to ask us to raise the debt ceiling again, and he will early next year - we do need to have another serious discussion about trying to do something significant about the deficit and the debt," he said.
McConnell said that without Mr. Obama taking action, nothing can be done regarding debt. "Look, without presidential leadership, nothing is, can be accomplished," he said. "We didn't have presidential leadership last year. It's pretty clear the president's not going to lead on this any time soon.
"We don't control the entire government," McConnell added. "We control the House of Representatives only. We'd like to do something about the nation's biggest problem - spending and debt, which is, of course, the reason for this economic melees and this high unemployment - And whenever the president is willing to engage, we're ready to go."
Despite Speaker Boehner's recent statement about cutting more spending in relation to the debt ceiling, however, the House passed a defense spending budget on Friday that increases spending by $8 billion, ignoring the previous debt ceiling agreement to cut $600 billion.
When asked by Schieffer if the cuts agreed to last year - including cuts to the Pentagon - should stand, McConnell (who was not involved in the House bill) replied, "Yeah, I don't think we ought to cut a penny less than we're pledged to cut."
But he said he was open to discussing how the promised reduction could be allocated differently. "I happen to be among those who think it's much too tough on the Defense Department - defense of the nation is our single biggest responsibility at the federal level of government in this country. But I don't think we ought to cut a penny less than we promised the American people last year we would," McConnell told Schieffer.
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Related
Boehner sets up another debt limit fight
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57434603-503544/boehner-sets-up-another-debt-limit-fight/
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© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57437878/mcconnell-obama-needs-to-act-like-an-adult/ [with embedded video report, and comments]
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GOP can’t seem to learn
By Bill Press - 05/17/12 06:11 PM ET
He’s the biggest sensation in the U.K. since Susan Boyle. He trounced the competition in winning the big prize on “Britain’s Got Talent.” And he accepted his £500,000 award on all fours.
Meet Pudsey, the Border Collie, Bichon Frise and Chinese Crested cross-mix — aka mutt — who wowed the judges and took Britain by storm with an amazing display of walking on his hind legs, jumping through hoops and even dancing the Charleston.
That’s the difference between a dog and House Republicans. You can teach a dog tricks. Apparently, you can’t teach a House Republican anything. They just can’t seem to learn.
As we discovered with Paul Ryan’s budget, for example. Last year, all but four House Republicans voted for the Ryan plan to end Medicare and Medicaid as they now exist and slash programs for the poor, while expanding tax cuts for the rich. His plan never got off the ground, but it turned out to be a political disaster.
Once back home in their districts, Republicans were so clobbered by outraged constituents anxious about losing Medicare and Medicaid that they returned to Washington and abandoned the Ryan plan. You’d think they’d have learned their lesson. But oh, no. This year Republicans turned around and adopted almost the very same plan, only worse.
And now, led by John Boehner, Republicans are displaying the same ignorance — and arrogance — on the debt ceiling. Who can forget last year’s debacle? Even though raising the debt ceiling so the United States can pay its bills was never before a partisan issue — Ronald Reagan did it 18 times; George W. Bush, seven — House Republicans refused to allow another increase without corresponding spending cuts to domestic programs.
For Republicans, another public-relations disaster. Experts predicted economic collapse. Credit agencies warned the United States would lose its top rating. The markets tanked. And crisis was only avoided when both sides agreed to creation of a supercommittee. When that failed, the “sequester” of $1.2 trillion in cuts split between defense and domestic programs kicked in — and now Republicans are trying to break that deal, too.
Once again, following such abject failure, you’d think Republicans would have learned something. But oh, no. Speaker Boehner is now throwing the same temper tantrum by threatening to shut down the government and hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to drastic new domestic spending cuts — and, of course, another extension of the Bush tax cuts. Even though the current four Republican leaders — Boehner, Cantor, McConnell and Kyl — combined to vote for increases in the debt ceiling 19 times under President George W. Bush.
Boehner’s just playing a dangerous game of politics with the debt ceiling, and Americans know it. According to Gallup, after last year’s pitiful performance, Congress’s approval rating sank to a low of 10 percent. This year, Boehner seems determined to get it down to zero.
© 2012 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/228195-gop-cant-seem-to-learn [with comment]
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Fun Plans for Summer Vacation
By GAIL COLLINS
Published: May 16, 2012
John Boehner wants to restart the debt-limit debate. This is big news. Remember all the fun we had last time: threats, brinkmanship, wobbling financial markets, torpedoed Grand Bargain? You can certainly understand why he misses it.
The weather’s getting nice. Maybe this time we could do it outdoors.
“Let’s start now!” the House speaker said during a “fiscal summit” in Washington on Tuesday. This is an annual event in which honchos from all political persuasions get together and agree that the national debt is too big.
We are getting into election season, people. We are going to be hearing a lot about the national debt. (Which is very big. Really, at that fiscal summit meeting they were totally in agreement on the bigness.)
The partisan division — and the key to this entire election — is whether you believe that taxes are a critical tool for putting the budget in balance. If not, then we have nothing to talk about. Meet you in November. Once we see who wins, we’ll deal with the debt.
Fortunately, Congress does not actually have to raise the debt limit again until after the elections. But Boehner insisted in a CNN interview that “there’s no reason to wait” because it’s just a matter of “both parties getting together.”
Maybe we could have a special bipartisan committee come up with a plan. I really liked the supercommittee. And remember all the fun we had with Bowles-Simpson?
The names could definitely be better, though. Let’s call the next one Skippy.
“Everyone knows what the menu is. It’s just about having the guts to choose ... what you’re going to have for dinner,” said Boehner, whose only personal preference is for meals entirely devoid of the dreaded Revenue vegetable.
In other debt-developments, Boehner met with President Obama on Wednesday to discuss what will happen when the debt does hit its next limit. This may happen around Christmastime, and I, for one, am really looking forward to all the lump-of-coal-in-the-stocking jokes. During the get-together, the president reportedly suggested that for once Congress just raise the ceiling like a normal legislature. The speaker’s confidantes reported that he was brave and strong and mildly profane about going for drama and cheap thrills.
In still other debt-related news, the Senate failed to agree on a budget plan despite multiple proposals the Republicans helpfully came up with to slash spending, curb entitlements and lower taxes. During a six-hour debate, the minority denounced the debt (which is very, very big), while the majority party members sat around sullenly. The high point may have come when Senator Mike Lee of Utah announced that “this is the greatest civilization the world has ever known.” Nobody disagreed with him, although that was probably not the best time to make the argument.
The Democrats have not passed their own long-term budget plan for several years. This is either a terrible sign of the poisonous partisan state of things in Washington or an indication that when it comes to things that you really, really need in this world, a Congressional budget ranks somewhere between a hurricane and another debt-limit debate.
To be fair, Congress did pass the Budget Control Act, which, absent any other debt-reduction agreement, will go into effect early next year and automatically slash the defense budget and domestic spending while eliminating the Bush-era tax cuts and that temporary payroll tax cut. This plan is affectionately known as “falling off the cliff.”
There is quite a bit of disagreement about how bad a thing it would be to fall off the cliff. In a Bloomberg News interview, Robert Greenstein, the president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, seemed to feel as if it might be sort of like bungee jumping. (“It is quite possible that we go over the cliff but only for a very short period ...”) Others, like Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, have a more negative attitude. (“It makes no sense to get even close to that cliff.”)
Meanwhile, and even more national-debt-related news, Mitt Romney made a major speech in which he laced into President Obama for adding “almost as much debt as all the prior presidents combined.” This is a much-repeated factoid whose shock value is matched only by its extreme inaccuracy. As The Associated Press noted afterward, the public debt has gone up about 50 percent since the president took office while “under Ronald Reagan it tripled.”
It was a pretty dramatic speech, which compared the debt to a raging prairie fire. Romney said he would extinguish the blaze with his spending and tax-cutting plan, which the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated would, at the very best, do nothing whatsoever.
Only 25 more weeks to go.
© 2012 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/opinion/collins-fun-plans-for-summer-vacation.html [with comments]
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WATCH: Paul Krugman Wonders If Boehner, Other Republicans Are 'Manchurian Candidates'
Appearing on "Martin Bashir" Friday afternoon, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said that Republican leaders' economic policy is so destructive that "sometimes you do wonder if these guys are moles –Manchurian Candidates – for I don’t know who." (Watch above.)
Krugman also called lawmakers who think austerity programs will jumpstart the economy "completely deluded."
Throughout his appearance, the Nobel Prize-winning economist proffered a philosophy familiar to readers of his column: Governments should spend more, not less, during tough times. He called the austerity programs that have been put into place in Europe and the U.S. a "massive unethical human experiment," and argued that "even if you don't care at all about the people...cutting spending right now now is a way to make the budget, too."
Responding to a clip of Congressman Paul Ryan comparing American economic malaise to that of Greece, Krugman outlined the many differences between the two countries, then attacked the Republican rising star. "About Paul Ryan--you should really look at Paul Ryan's budget, and what's really in it, as opposed to the empty promises," Krugman said. "His budget would actually increase the budget deficit. He wants to slash taxes on the rich, cut benefits for the poor, but it adds up to an increased budget deficit, not a reduced one."
Bashir then asked what Krugman thought of John Boehner's recent assertion [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/senate-republicans-debt-ceiling-fight_n_1519561.html ] that he would once again force a showdown over the U.S. debt ceiling.
Krugman compared Boehner and his ilk to Manchurian Candidates, whose "real job is to bring down America." Republicans have become so extreme, he said that their strategy at the negotiating table is simply to "threaten to destroy the economy unless they get what they want."
Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/watch-paul-krugman-calls-gop-leaders-manchurian-candidates_n_1528795.html [with original MSNBC video ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/47480484#47480484 ) embedded, and comments] [the YouTube of the segment above at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKX6dUcQoUw ]
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Paul Krugman says spending is the way to recovery
Fri May 18, 2012 1:18 PM EDT
Mitt Romney says the president is spending too much. Paul Krugman [ http://www.krugmanonline.com/ ], winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and Princeton University Economics Professor, Author (“End This Depression Now”), joins Ed Schultz to explain why the government isn't spending enough.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/18/11757566-paul-krugman-says-spending-is-the-way-to-recovery [with video segment embedded, and comments] [original of the video segment at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/47470030#47470030 ; YouTube of the segment above at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTRHX5CuqU ]
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Paul Krugman - The Economic Meltdown: What Have We Learned, if Anything?
see also the massachusetts institute of technology
- http://mitworld.mit.edu/
- http://techtv.mit.edu/
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(linked in):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=75317829 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=75469106 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=75538225 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=75583191 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=75782089 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=75786115 and preceding (and any future following)
[budget-battle-related Toles gallery at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tom-toles-on-the-budget-battle/2011/03/15/AB6u9ZX_gallery.html ]
By Dana Milbank, Published: May 18, 2012
John Boehner thinks it’s kind of funny. “It struck me as somewhat comical,” he told reporters Thursday morning, “that, you know, people are looking to me like I’m the guy carrying a sword around town, I’m going to bludgeon someone.”
Well, Mr. Speaker, maybe that’s because your rapier keeps setting off the metal detectors.
The bludgeon Boehner wields is his threat to revive the default standoff [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/boehner-threatens-another-debt-ceiling-fight/2012/05/15/gIQAJuCESU_story.html ] of last summer, a showdown that shattered consumer confidence and helped stall the economic recovery.
In a speech Tuesday [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/boehners-full-speech-on-the-debt-ceiling-read-it-here/2012/05/16/gIQAjw2aTU_blog.html ], Boehner said that “allowing America to default,” while not such a hot idea, would be better than raising the debt ceiling without “dramatic steps to reduce spending.” Added Boehner: “We shouldn’t dread the debt limit. We should welcome it. It’s an action-forcing event in a town that has become infamous for inaction.”
By his own account, Boehner was reprising a speech — and a line in the sand — that he delivered before the last, disastrous standoff. As I watched him defend his position in the House TV studio Thursday morning, I had an uncomfortable thought: Does Boehner want the economy to tank?
My instinct says that he does not, that his concern for Americans’ suffering trumps his party’s interests. And yet there’s no denying that more economic trouble would boost Republicans’ political interest. If Boehner goes to the brink and secures new spending cuts, he wins. If he fails, and his brinkmanship sets off a crisis, he still wins, because the resulting drop in confidence will slow the economy and injure the incumbent president.
This possibility is more than theoretical. During the last default showdown, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell precipitously to the lowest level in more than two years. Analysts cited the debt-ceiling standoff as a factor.
Of course, it’s a time-honored tradition to disparage the economy when you’re in the opposition. I covered a hearing in early 2008, before the financial collapse, when Democrats spoke of “hemorrhaging” and “crisis” and then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson complained bitterly that they were trying to talk down the economy. But Boehner goes beyond talking down and approaches the realm of precipitating a crisis.
On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi complained [ http://www.democraticleader.gov/news/press?id=2621 ] that the other side is willing to “risk the full faith and credit of the United States. .?.?. It already can be damaging, just the fact that it’s brought up. I think we should snuff it out immediately.”
House Republicans have strategic reasons for precipitating a fight over the debt. In its absence, they have been debating issues on the Democrats’ turf, such as the Violence Against Women Act (Republicans passed a face-saving alternative to the Democrats’ version) and renewing the Export-Import Bank (93 House Republicans broke with their leaders).
On Thursday, conservatives on Capitol Hill were grumbling over a report by Politico [ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76422.html ] that, if the Supreme Court invalidates the Obamacare health reforms, Republican leaders would attempt to reinstate some of the more popular pieces of the legislation [and if the Supreme Court upholds the reforms, to gut the parts they don't like].
Returning the discussion to a debt-limit showdown reunites Republicans. But at what cost? I asked Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, whether the speaker worried that the showdown talk would rattle markets and consumers. “If you go back and read the S&P report” when the U.S. debt was downgraded, he said, “it was the failure to come to a more comprehensive agreement to deal with the deficit and debt that caused the downgrade, not the debate over raising the debt limit.”
True, Standard & Poor’s said that last summer’s budget deal “falls short” of what would stabilize the debt. But the rating agency also noted that the downgrade reflected “our view that the effectiveness, stability and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened.”
Nobody doubts the need to address the debt, but Boehner’s moves won’t dispel worries about stability and predictability. He began his weekly news conference with dire warnings (“disastrous default .?.?. wet blanket over our economy”). Despite more ominous words, he took issue with the notion that his earlier speech on the debt limit was about “brinkmanship.”
So what was it about? Politico’s Jake Sherman, reminding Boehner of his previous statement that it would be “hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again” on a debt deal, asked what had changed. “I live for hope,” Boehner said with a smile, allowing that he doesn’t “underestimate the difficulty.”
Fox News’ Chad Pergram asked Boehner whether he saw any “realistic” possibility of a vote on the debt limit before the election. “I’m not underestimating the difficulty,” Boehner repeated. “All I’m suggesting is that the conversations could start.”
And so can the panic.
danamilbank@washpost.com
© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/boehners-debt-sword--at-the-ready/2012/05/18/gIQAVTUhYU_story.html [with comments]
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Mr. Boehner’s lamentable desire to repeat bad history
By Editorial Board, Published: May 16
IT’S NOT OFTEN that a senior political figure announces an intention to behave irresponsibly and risk inflicting great harm on the U.S. economy. It’s even rarer that the politician, having already behaved irresponsibly and inflicted harm on the U.S. economy, announces his intention to do so again.
Yet that is the situation in which House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has placed himself. In a speech Tuesday to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s fiscal summit, he vowed to use the next debt-ceiling debate to extract additional spending cuts [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/boehner-watch-out-for-that-fiscal-cliff/2012/05/15/gIQAdtYZRU_blog.html ] as the price of lifting the country’s borrowing limit.
“Yes, allowing America to default would be irresponsible,” Mr. Boehner said. “But it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and reform the budget process.” Actually, no. It would be more irresponsible to risk — again — the United States’ credit rating.
We share Mr. Boehner’s deep concern about the rising federal debt. We have called for Congress and the president to put the country on a sustainable fiscal path before a crisis ensues. We sympathize with the speaker’s notion that the government won’t act unless forced to do so. “We shouldn’t dread the debt limit,” Mr. Boehner said Tuesday. “We should welcome it. It’s an action-forcing event in a town that has become infamous for inaction.”
There was a point, we confess, when we too hoped that debt-limit brinkmanship might encourage responsible behavior. Then came last summer’s debacle. The country moved closer to the edge of default than anyone had thought imaginable. The U.S. credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sandp-considering-first-downgrade-of-us-credit-rating/2011/08/05/gIQAqKeIxI_story.html ], and the resulting uncertainty and lack of confidence dragged down the economy.
And for what? For no real progress. Yes, the deal that ultimately emerged provided for nearly $1?trillion in cuts over 10 years. But the real hope, to the extent there was any, was in the creation of a congressional supercommittee that was empowered to come up with a broader solution and charged with producing another $1.2 trillion in cuts. The supercommittee super-failed. The debate now revolves around how to defuse the trigger of looming, draconian cuts that had been intended to assure the panel’s success. The action-forcing event did not force the necessary action.
So it is appalling that Mr. Boehner would be willing to repeat this dangerous episode, this time at potentially even greater risk. The Treasury is on target to hit the debt limit by early next year. Mr. Boehner said he will insist on additional spending cuts at least as large as the increase in the ceiling. Speaking to the same gathering, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner warned [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/geithner-warns-boehner-gop-on-end-of-year-debt-limit-showdown/2012/05/15/gIQAIJmORU_blog.html ] that another round of brinkmanship would be irresponsible and expressed hope that Congress will act without “the drama and the pain and the damage they caused the country last July.”
Unfortunately, a second act in the debt ceiling tragedy looks likelier than Mr. Geithner’s vision of adult behavior.
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Read more on this issue:
The Post’s View: Time for the grown-ups to enter the debt showdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/time-for-the-grown-ups-to-enter-the-debt-showdown/2011/07/28/gIQAO2ftfI_story.html
The Post’s View: A legacy of generations’ hard work placed at risk
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/raise-the-debt-limit/2011/07/15/gIQA9LzzGI_story.html
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© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-boehners-lamentable-desire-to-repeat-bad-history/2012/05/16/gIQAc3deUU_story.html [with comments]
===
WRAPUP 1-Obama, Republicans clash over US debt limit increase
May 16, 2012
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/usa-debt-boehner-idUSL1E8GGJBO20120517 [with comment]
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Is GOP trying to sabotage economy to hurt Obama?
[well DUH]
May 19, 2012
http://news.yahoo.com/gop-trying-sabotage-economy-hurt-obama-135650274--finance.html [ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i1iO0jTKpntqFNQX8MwPeYmEmY7w?docId=a2ad1b6200c244159870cb4389189b13 ]
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Republicans doubling down on debt limit showdown strategy
May 20, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-republicans-doubling-down-on-debt-limit-showdown-strategy-20120520,0,6287011.story
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Boehner describes House Republicans as '218 frogs in a wheelbarrow'
FoxNews.com
Published May 20, 2012
House Speaker John Boehner likened his restless Republican caucus to "frogs in a wheelbarrow," saying in an interview broadcast Sunday it's tough to keep them all in line on any given vote.
The speaker, on ABC's "This Week," discussed the challenge ahead in the second half of the year which will wrap up his first term as speaker -- though he's optimistic it won't be his last.
Boehner made waves earlier in the week when he called for the House to once again demand spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling, suggesting that fight might play out this year. But in that battle, Boehner could face resistance not only from Democrats but conservative Republicans who don't want to lift the debt ceiling no matter what is offered in exchange.
"I've never been shy about leading. But you know, leaders need followers," Boehner said, when asked about the trouble the speaker's had in general controlling his caucus. "We've got 89 brand new members. We've got a pretty disparate caucus. ... And it's hard to keep 218 frogs in a wheelbarrow long enough to get a bill passed."
But Boehner said his members want to do more, and "I want to do more too."
On the debt-ceiling question, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi countered that holding up that vote would not be the "responsible, mature, sensible" path.
"They're over the edge. We want a balanced approach," she said.
©2012 FOX News Network, LLC
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/20/boehner-describes-house-republicans-as-218-frogs-in-wheelbarrow/
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What Game Is John Boehner Playing?
Photograph by Luke Sharrett/The New York Times via Redux
By Brendan Greeley on May 18, 2012
“It’s an action-forcing event,” said John Boehner, “in a town that’s become famous for inaction.” He was speaking at a conference in Washington sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He was referring to his decision to stage a fight this winter over increasing the federal government’s debt limit, which he confirmed after hoagies with the president the next day. The thing is, it’s not at all clear why he’s doing this, or what he thinks he has to gain by signaling such a fight so far in advance. To put it in the classic Washington formulation: What does John Boehner want?
We don’t live in his head or his office, which both seem like stress-filled environments anyway, and Boehner has not been forthcoming with details. So we’ll have to make some assumptions. This is where a game theorist can help. As it happens, we have one right here: Steven Brams worked under former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in the 1960s and has written extensively on game theory, including most recently Game Theory and the Humanities. He says the first assumption is that every actor in a game is rational.
So let’s assume that: John Boehner is rational. What’s his game? Brams says that despite what the House speaker says, his game is not called “Balance the Budget.”
“If it were,” says Brams, “the question would be, how do we balance it, how great are the cuts?” Boehner isn’t talking about such details or outlining specific cuts. Game theorists think in terms of a matrix, a theoretical square that describes potential actions, in this case with President Obama on one axis and Speaker Boehner on the other. If the two had agreed to play a game that would erase federal budget deficits, says Brams, “the matrices would involve specifics of where the cuts would be made: ‘Cut this’ is one strategy, ‘cut that’ is another strategy.”
That’s out, then. But your intuition probably already told you that, and Boehner is still getting at something. So let’s start with what he can’t avoid, and work our way backward from there. By Jan. 1, 2013, Boehner—and everyone in Washington—has to have completed a game of chicken called “Extend the Bush Tax Cuts.” Boehner can’t not play this game. Or, rather, if he chooses not to play, he loses. In chicken, at least one side must swerve so that both may live. But the matrix in this game doesn’t look great for Boehner. In the worst-case scenario in the chicken matrix for “Extend the Bush Tax Cuts,” no one swerves and the tax cuts expire. It’s not great for the economy, but it’s not an immediate meltdown, either, which makes the worst-case, no-swerve outcome not a very compelling threat to the president.
So we know, as John Boehner must, that the Jan. 1 game is not a great game for him to play. He can avoid it by picking a different game, and this is the one he has announced. It’s a chicken game called “Raise the Debt Limit.” Familiar ground for the House Republicans, and a compelling matrix. If no one swerves, the U.S. fails to meet its obligations to debt holders. A twisted mess of steel and gasoline for everyone, including the president.
But even this isn’t the game Boehner is playing, says Brams. Boehner “doesn’t have enough information to see whether it’s a good strategy or not,” he says. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spoke at the same conference, where he made clear that Treasury’s deadline for raising the debt limit may extend into the new year. And Obama may be a lame-duck president this winter. Or the Republicans may be chastened by losses in the House. “It’s just rhetoric at this stage,” says Brams.
There is a problem with bargaining games. Theorists refer to it, with their characteristic directness, as the “toughness dilemma”—or, as Brams puts it, “How far do you go to be tough but not look like you’re sabotaging everything?” The Tea Partiers, in the House and in the country, do not suffer from a toughness dilemma. They are certain that more of it is good. To look tough is good for bargaining, good for Boehner’s crankiest freshmen, and good to animate the Republican base in the middle of an election, when most of the attention is on the presidential candidates and precious little is being paid to, say, the Speaker of the House.
In other words, Boehner just played a game called “Remember Me?” He won.
Greeley is a staff writer for Bloomberg Businessweek.
*
Related
How the Mythical Republican Moderate Disappeared
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-02/how-the-mythical-republican-moderate-disappeared
House Republicans Are Hilariously Leery of Mitt Romney
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-17/house-republicans-are-hilariously-leery-of-mitt-romney
Pigs Fly, Republicans Rally Around Romney
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-20/pigs-fly-republicans-rally-around-romney
Video
Bachmann on Republican Race: Political Capital
http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2012-02-03/bachmann-on-republican-race-political-capital
Video
Senator Richard Lugar on Republican U.S. Senate Primary
http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2012-05-03/lugar-mourdock-on-republican-u-dot-s-dot-senate-primary
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@2012 Bloomberg L.P
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-18/what-game-is-john-boehner-playing [with comments]
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McConnell: Obama needs to act like an adult
By Leigh Ann Caldwell
May 20, 2012 12:37 PM
(CBS News) The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, criticized President Obama for failing to lead on the debt, calling it the nation's "biggest problem," and indicating that nothing will get done about it until he takes initiative.
On "Face the Nation," McConnell said "this president needs to become the adult" when it comes to the long-term debt, adding that he and House Speaker John Boehner "have been the adults in the room arguing that we ought to do something about the nation's most serious long-term problem."
McConnell told host Bob Schieffer that the president has had three-and-a-half years to tackle the deficit, but "we could not get this president to do anything serious about entitlement reform, for example, the single biggest threat to future generations."
Earlier in the week, Speaker Boehner said he will demand additional spending cuts before Congress approves another increase to the debt ceiling, which came as a surprise to many. The previous fight over the debt ceiling nearly shut down the government before Congress and the president agreed to $1.2 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for the debt ceiling to be lifted.
McConnell said he agreed with Boehner's statement: "If the president is going to ask us to raise the debt ceiling again, and he will early next year - we do need to have another serious discussion about trying to do something significant about the deficit and the debt," he said.
McConnell said that without Mr. Obama taking action, nothing can be done regarding debt. "Look, without presidential leadership, nothing is, can be accomplished," he said. "We didn't have presidential leadership last year. It's pretty clear the president's not going to lead on this any time soon.
"We don't control the entire government," McConnell added. "We control the House of Representatives only. We'd like to do something about the nation's biggest problem - spending and debt, which is, of course, the reason for this economic melees and this high unemployment - And whenever the president is willing to engage, we're ready to go."
Despite Speaker Boehner's recent statement about cutting more spending in relation to the debt ceiling, however, the House passed a defense spending budget on Friday that increases spending by $8 billion, ignoring the previous debt ceiling agreement to cut $600 billion.
When asked by Schieffer if the cuts agreed to last year - including cuts to the Pentagon - should stand, McConnell (who was not involved in the House bill) replied, "Yeah, I don't think we ought to cut a penny less than we're pledged to cut."
But he said he was open to discussing how the promised reduction could be allocated differently. "I happen to be among those who think it's much too tough on the Defense Department - defense of the nation is our single biggest responsibility at the federal level of government in this country. But I don't think we ought to cut a penny less than we promised the American people last year we would," McConnell told Schieffer.
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Related
Boehner sets up another debt limit fight
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57434603-503544/boehner-sets-up-another-debt-limit-fight/
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© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57437878/mcconnell-obama-needs-to-act-like-an-adult/ [with embedded video report, and comments]
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GOP can’t seem to learn
By Bill Press - 05/17/12 06:11 PM ET
He’s the biggest sensation in the U.K. since Susan Boyle. He trounced the competition in winning the big prize on “Britain’s Got Talent.” And he accepted his £500,000 award on all fours.
Meet Pudsey, the Border Collie, Bichon Frise and Chinese Crested cross-mix — aka mutt — who wowed the judges and took Britain by storm with an amazing display of walking on his hind legs, jumping through hoops and even dancing the Charleston.
That’s the difference between a dog and House Republicans. You can teach a dog tricks. Apparently, you can’t teach a House Republican anything. They just can’t seem to learn.
As we discovered with Paul Ryan’s budget, for example. Last year, all but four House Republicans voted for the Ryan plan to end Medicare and Medicaid as they now exist and slash programs for the poor, while expanding tax cuts for the rich. His plan never got off the ground, but it turned out to be a political disaster.
Once back home in their districts, Republicans were so clobbered by outraged constituents anxious about losing Medicare and Medicaid that they returned to Washington and abandoned the Ryan plan. You’d think they’d have learned their lesson. But oh, no. This year Republicans turned around and adopted almost the very same plan, only worse.
And now, led by John Boehner, Republicans are displaying the same ignorance — and arrogance — on the debt ceiling. Who can forget last year’s debacle? Even though raising the debt ceiling so the United States can pay its bills was never before a partisan issue — Ronald Reagan did it 18 times; George W. Bush, seven — House Republicans refused to allow another increase without corresponding spending cuts to domestic programs.
For Republicans, another public-relations disaster. Experts predicted economic collapse. Credit agencies warned the United States would lose its top rating. The markets tanked. And crisis was only avoided when both sides agreed to creation of a supercommittee. When that failed, the “sequester” of $1.2 trillion in cuts split between defense and domestic programs kicked in — and now Republicans are trying to break that deal, too.
Once again, following such abject failure, you’d think Republicans would have learned something. But oh, no. Speaker Boehner is now throwing the same temper tantrum by threatening to shut down the government and hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to drastic new domestic spending cuts — and, of course, another extension of the Bush tax cuts. Even though the current four Republican leaders — Boehner, Cantor, McConnell and Kyl — combined to vote for increases in the debt ceiling 19 times under President George W. Bush.
Boehner’s just playing a dangerous game of politics with the debt ceiling, and Americans know it. According to Gallup, after last year’s pitiful performance, Congress’s approval rating sank to a low of 10 percent. This year, Boehner seems determined to get it down to zero.
© 2012 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/228195-gop-cant-seem-to-learn [with comment]
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Fun Plans for Summer Vacation
By GAIL COLLINS
Published: May 16, 2012
John Boehner wants to restart the debt-limit debate. This is big news. Remember all the fun we had last time: threats, brinkmanship, wobbling financial markets, torpedoed Grand Bargain? You can certainly understand why he misses it.
The weather’s getting nice. Maybe this time we could do it outdoors.
“Let’s start now!” the House speaker said during a “fiscal summit” in Washington on Tuesday. This is an annual event in which honchos from all political persuasions get together and agree that the national debt is too big.
We are getting into election season, people. We are going to be hearing a lot about the national debt. (Which is very big. Really, at that fiscal summit meeting they were totally in agreement on the bigness.)
The partisan division — and the key to this entire election — is whether you believe that taxes are a critical tool for putting the budget in balance. If not, then we have nothing to talk about. Meet you in November. Once we see who wins, we’ll deal with the debt.
Fortunately, Congress does not actually have to raise the debt limit again until after the elections. But Boehner insisted in a CNN interview that “there’s no reason to wait” because it’s just a matter of “both parties getting together.”
Maybe we could have a special bipartisan committee come up with a plan. I really liked the supercommittee. And remember all the fun we had with Bowles-Simpson?
The names could definitely be better, though. Let’s call the next one Skippy.
“Everyone knows what the menu is. It’s just about having the guts to choose ... what you’re going to have for dinner,” said Boehner, whose only personal preference is for meals entirely devoid of the dreaded Revenue vegetable.
In other debt-developments, Boehner met with President Obama on Wednesday to discuss what will happen when the debt does hit its next limit. This may happen around Christmastime, and I, for one, am really looking forward to all the lump-of-coal-in-the-stocking jokes. During the get-together, the president reportedly suggested that for once Congress just raise the ceiling like a normal legislature. The speaker’s confidantes reported that he was brave and strong and mildly profane about going for drama and cheap thrills.
In still other debt-related news, the Senate failed to agree on a budget plan despite multiple proposals the Republicans helpfully came up with to slash spending, curb entitlements and lower taxes. During a six-hour debate, the minority denounced the debt (which is very, very big), while the majority party members sat around sullenly. The high point may have come when Senator Mike Lee of Utah announced that “this is the greatest civilization the world has ever known.” Nobody disagreed with him, although that was probably not the best time to make the argument.
The Democrats have not passed their own long-term budget plan for several years. This is either a terrible sign of the poisonous partisan state of things in Washington or an indication that when it comes to things that you really, really need in this world, a Congressional budget ranks somewhere between a hurricane and another debt-limit debate.
To be fair, Congress did pass the Budget Control Act, which, absent any other debt-reduction agreement, will go into effect early next year and automatically slash the defense budget and domestic spending while eliminating the Bush-era tax cuts and that temporary payroll tax cut. This plan is affectionately known as “falling off the cliff.”
There is quite a bit of disagreement about how bad a thing it would be to fall off the cliff. In a Bloomberg News interview, Robert Greenstein, the president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, seemed to feel as if it might be sort of like bungee jumping. (“It is quite possible that we go over the cliff but only for a very short period ...”) Others, like Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, have a more negative attitude. (“It makes no sense to get even close to that cliff.”)
Meanwhile, and even more national-debt-related news, Mitt Romney made a major speech in which he laced into President Obama for adding “almost as much debt as all the prior presidents combined.” This is a much-repeated factoid whose shock value is matched only by its extreme inaccuracy. As The Associated Press noted afterward, the public debt has gone up about 50 percent since the president took office while “under Ronald Reagan it tripled.”
It was a pretty dramatic speech, which compared the debt to a raging prairie fire. Romney said he would extinguish the blaze with his spending and tax-cutting plan, which the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated would, at the very best, do nothing whatsoever.
Only 25 more weeks to go.
© 2012 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/opinion/collins-fun-plans-for-summer-vacation.html [with comments]
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WATCH: Paul Krugman Wonders If Boehner, Other Republicans Are 'Manchurian Candidates'
Posted: 05/18/2012 7:00 pm Updated: 05/18/2012 7:05 pm
Appearing on "Martin Bashir" Friday afternoon, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said that Republican leaders' economic policy is so destructive that "sometimes you do wonder if these guys are moles –Manchurian Candidates – for I don’t know who." (Watch above.)
Krugman also called lawmakers who think austerity programs will jumpstart the economy "completely deluded."
Throughout his appearance, the Nobel Prize-winning economist proffered a philosophy familiar to readers of his column: Governments should spend more, not less, during tough times. He called the austerity programs that have been put into place in Europe and the U.S. a "massive unethical human experiment," and argued that "even if you don't care at all about the people...cutting spending right now now is a way to make the budget, too."
Responding to a clip of Congressman Paul Ryan comparing American economic malaise to that of Greece, Krugman outlined the many differences between the two countries, then attacked the Republican rising star. "About Paul Ryan--you should really look at Paul Ryan's budget, and what's really in it, as opposed to the empty promises," Krugman said. "His budget would actually increase the budget deficit. He wants to slash taxes on the rich, cut benefits for the poor, but it adds up to an increased budget deficit, not a reduced one."
Bashir then asked what Krugman thought of John Boehner's recent assertion [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/senate-republicans-debt-ceiling-fight_n_1519561.html ] that he would once again force a showdown over the U.S. debt ceiling.
Krugman compared Boehner and his ilk to Manchurian Candidates, whose "real job is to bring down America." Republicans have become so extreme, he said that their strategy at the negotiating table is simply to "threaten to destroy the economy unless they get what they want."
Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/watch-paul-krugman-calls-gop-leaders-manchurian-candidates_n_1528795.html [with original MSNBC video ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/47480484#47480484 ) embedded, and comments] [the YouTube of the segment above at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKX6dUcQoUw ]
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Paul Krugman says spending is the way to recovery
By The Ed Show Staff
Fri May 18, 2012 1:18 PM EDT
Mitt Romney says the president is spending too much. Paul Krugman [ http://www.krugmanonline.com/ ], winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and Princeton University Economics Professor, Author (“End This Depression Now”), joins Ed Schultz to explain why the government isn't spending enough.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/18/11757566-paul-krugman-says-spending-is-the-way-to-recovery [with video segment embedded, and comments] [original of the video segment at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/47470030#47470030 ; YouTube of the segment above at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTRHX5CuqU ]
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Paul Krugman - The Economic Meltdown: What Have We Learned, if Anything?
Uploaded by DebatesAndLectures on Feb 21, 2012
see also the massachusetts institute of technology
- http://mitworld.mit.edu/
- http://techtv.mit.edu/
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
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upon the Right of Election, 1790
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